Have you checked in with your senior friends from the Class of 2025 lately? Did you ask them how they feel now, having passed through the college process? Perhaps they can provide some useful advice to our Senior Class of 2026?
2025 alums endured a stressful period balancing applying to colleges while maintaining all of their school work as Fieldston students. I consulted several Fieldston seniors last year in the midst of the experience on how the college application process affected their mental health and overall stress levels last year. Recently, I looked over the notes I took back then and found them very revealing, practical and vibrant.
When asked about her mood, senior Mia Newman responded, “[I am] kind of tired, very stressed, because I have a lot of school work, tests, and the college process is very draining.” Another senior had a similar answer; Adelaide Feldman explained that she felt overwhelmed and fatigued: “My current mood…well I haven’t eaten yet, so maybe I’m cranky. I’m pretty drained. I feel like I’m putting a lot of effort into my classes and I’m not getting the results that I want.” However, Feldman remarked that she has some hope as the deadline for early decision college applications are coming up, “Part of me has hope because November 1 is on Friday. But, I’m very drained.” These comments provide a window into how taxing the process has been.
Sleep is a major factor leading to not only a student’s success and focus in school but also their overall well-being. When seniors were asked how much sleep they get on average during the school week, the mean amount of sleep was six hours. This is not sufficient for most people, let alone teenagers, who often need even more sleep as their brains are still developing and their bodies are still growing. In an article for Johns Hopkins Medicine, pediatrician Michael Crocetto says that teens need nine to nine and a half hours of sleep each night. “Teenagers are going through a second developmental stage of cognitive maturation.” He explains that sleep is essential to the developing brain and physical growth spurts. The insufficient amount of sleep that teens are getting is a result of the amount of work that seniors are receiving at school, coupled with work as a result of the college application process.
Since the school year began, seniors reported an increase in stress among the whole grade. Feldman commented, “Everyone is beyond stressed, everyone is crying. People don’t put effort into anything besides their college work.”
Newman shared her similar feelings, “I think that everyone (or every senior) is stressed right now because we’re approaching the first application deadline and the school work is stressful. The college work is stressful, but personally, what is most stressful for me is how so many things are unknown.”
While seniors have been undergoing this anxiety-provoking and arduous process, they have described support systems like guidance from friends, families, teachers and college counselors as helpful. One senior shared that the college counselors are trying their best to support seniors. “I think that it’s been harder to get in touch with some of the[m], but the new ones (counselors) have been a game-changer. They are super quick to respond and help, which I really appreciate.” However, the same senior claimed that their teachers have not eased their homework as much as they had hoped. As a result, weekly workloads have been overwhelming.
When asked if the staff and teachers at school have been supportive and understanding of their current situation, one senior responded, “I think some of them, but not that much.” They later followed up with, “Closer to the deadline, it feels like they can sense we feel stressed. But earlier in the semester, it felt like they didn’t understand and we had to go-go-go and somehow do it all.”
Another senior had a contrasting response, feeling as though their teachers have been extremely compassionate, “I feel that a lot of my teachers have been very understanding and have tried to make the school year as easy as possible for us.”
Most Fieldston seniors, when asked how they felt about having to balance college admissions work on top of their regular school work, described it as a laborious and tedious process. Newman remarked, “I find it difficult to balance on top of school work because at the end of the day, after I do my homework and study for my tests, and I want to go to sleep, I can’t, because I have to work on my supplements.” For many, nightly work is already difficult to manage with extracurriculars, clubs, assignments, quizzes, tests and more. Imagine having a huge workload of assignments in addition to that? Another senior agreed that it is difficult to balance the work. “There’s no doubt in my mind. It is nearly impossible and I pray for everyone.”
Although this period was stressful for the seniors, they moved through it and enjoyed a wonderful, carefree spring. That’s important to know. In the meantime, let’s make sure to encourage and look out for our current Fieldston seniors!
